what guns

When I purchased my 98 XJ a few months ago I was all excited and did not think to even look at whether it had a trailer hitch or not. Its been so long since I drove anything that did not have one from the factory that I kind of took it for granted. I did not notice it until the next day.

I have a 14 foot john boat that I haul a couple of miles to the boat ramp through the fishing season and since it was almost fall I just figured I would install one some time this winter. I was telling a friend of mine who has a 98 Grand Cherokee and he has been getting recall notices from the factory saying that will install a reece hitch for free as a factory recall item. I actually saw the letter they sent him. Apparently the dealer will install a hitch to protect the gas tank in the event of a rear end collision due to give it some added protection against rupturing.

The tank in the XJs are pretty well exposed to the same dangers in a rear end collision so common sense would say that the same recall applies to them as well but I have not been able to find anything that explicitly says so on the web. Everything I have found is about the Grand Cherokee so my question is does anyone know if I can take it to the dealer and get a hitch installed under a recall. If so does anyone know what the TSB number on it is. I would like to know the TSB on it just in case the dealer tries to give me some grief about working on a 17 year old vehicle for free.

No I have not asked a dealership yet and I will but no harm in asking here as well. I am going to have them install child seat restraints for free sometime in the next week or two in order to keep my wife from being a paranoid basket case every time I take the kids wheeling but would like to know if anyone knows about the hitch thing before I ask them about it.

MonacaYankee

Recall does not apply to xjs.

andrewmp6

It applies to the grand cherokees not the normal cherokees.But you can get a used hitch from the junkyard for like 20 bucks tho.

sycoglitch

And to further answer your questions, theres websites that you can enter your VIN and it'll show any pending recalls. I forgot the site but someone ma ly post it or you may be able to google it

what guns

Figures. Doesnt really make any sense to me. Why recall the grands for a safety defect and not the XJs that see to have the same problem. Does Chrysler think we XJ drivers are expendable because we did not spring for leather interior and V8 engines. Maybe they figure we wont ever get rear ended because we hardly ever make it out of the driveway without having to stop and spend another hundred fixing something else.

SG Mason

The GC and XJ run on different chassis that have a different rear suspension setup, hence them not being part of the recall.

jpmarine6786

The bumper is lower on the XJ then the GCs so they aren't as easy to damage in a rear end collision.

andrewmp6

On the wj grand the gas tank is below the back bumper,Next time your see the back end of one the black thing under the bumper is the gas tank.On the xj the tank is higher up and has a steel bumper its safer.I think the firey death from being rear ended is over played.In the 60s and 70s pretty much all cars had the gas tank in the rear and only the pinto got a bad wrap about it.The 73-87 gm trucks had the gas tanks side saddle on the outside of the frame and yet that was safe at the time.As a kid i rode in those cars and trucks and no one i knew had one catch fire from a wreck.

dmill89

^This, in addition XJs have leaf-springs, the leaf-springs and shackles will take most of the weight/impact of a vehicle that "under-rides" the bumper, while ZJs/WJs/KJs have coil-springs and basically nothing structural to protect from an under-riding vehicle unless they have an optional hitch or skid-plate.


Even then the whole thing is political and over-blown. The ZJ and WJ were right in the middle of the pack (average) as far as fires from rear-end collisions compared to vehicles from the same time period (there are plenty of vehicles more-susceptible to fire that haven't been recalled), only the KJ was on the high-side of average (but still from the most fire-prone vehicle of the era, that honor goes to the 1st gen Mitsubishi Eclipse), and the XJ was much better than average with very few fires from rear-end collisions.


All these vehicles met the rear-collision standards in place when they where built and the NHTSA unfairly compared them to the new standards that didn't go into effect until 2007 which is absolute bull-crap, it would be like making Ford recall the Model-T and to air-bags in all of them.


At the end of the day if you want a vehicle that meets all the latest safety standards buy a new one, when you buy a 10+ year old vehicle you are accepting the fact that it isn't going to meet the same standards as a new one.

what guns

It probably is overstated but If i could get a free hitch it would be a nice side effect of the drama. My gas tank is pretty obviously visible from the rear but I lifted this jeep the day after i purchased it so that may be more noticeable because I lifted it up. It does look overly exposed to me. I need the hitch anyway so its going to be a non issue as soon as I install it but I just wanted to be sure I couldnt get it for free first.

I was watching jay lenos garage last night and they were talking about the corvairs and the unsafe at any speed wrap they got because of their tank placement. I did not know that the fiery death trap claims against them had been proven totally false in government crash test I believe in 76 and 77. Even so that bad wrap sticks with the corvairs to this day. Just goes to prove what bad press can do to a brand.

LAF1269

Here's the one I have. $118 on Amazon with free shipping.


Probably one of the cheaper ones you'll find, and it's well built.

what guns

Im sure I can find one at a decent price locally if I take the time to look. Thanks for the link though and thanks to every else who helped answer my questiion

andrewmp6

Like i said you can get a used trailer hitch from the junkyard for like 20 bucks tho.If you want one new try uhaul.

Morat

or go propane. Those tanks are built like.. the other type of tank




(just a bit of levity)

Orlo

So, I gather from your posts that you have a problem with gas. Don't think there's any help for that here.